Jim, the ant lived on a beautiful hibiscus plant with his fellow ants. The plant grew in a corner of a house garden with some 7-8 other plants. Every time, a hibiscus flower bloomed, the ants would dive deep into the center to collect the nectar of the flower. With perfect weather, ample food, and a gorgeous house under the soil, this ant colony lived, worked, and played happily together.

One day, a beautiful hibiscus flower bloomed and all the entire ant colony jumped right in to relish over some nectar. While everyone was busy sipping the nectar, Jim was wandering around the plant. Suddenly, his leg touched a dewdrop. Curious to know where it came from, Jim assessed it from the front, back, right, and left. 

But even after all the assessments, Jim didn’t understand the whereabouts of the dewdrop. Thinking that he might a clear view from the top of the plant, he climbed to the highest tip of a leaf.

When he reached and looked down at the dewdrop he has left amazed. In the dewdrop, Jim saw a reflection of some bright orangy, red-colored, round-shaped thing with spikes.

Jim wanted to show this beautiful thing to everyone. He rushed and asked everyone to climb the top of the leaf. But by the time everyone reached there, the dewdrop had disappeared. 

However, Jim was super-curious about the reflection of this bright red thing. Upon enquiring within the colony he came to know that what he saw was the stigma of the hibiscus flower. 

All the ants exclaimed that stigma was that part of the flower which is out-of-reach for the ants. The anthers in the way kept the ants from making it to the top of the flower.

The old and wise ants told Jim how difficult it was to reach the stigma and how numerous ants had tried to go there in the past and failed terribly.

When Jim listened to all this, his curiosity and adventurous spirit just skyrocketed. He wanted to become the first ant to make it to the stigma. He was ready to work hard, sacrifice food and do absolutely anything and everything to make his dream a reality.

From the next day onwards, his experiments to reach the stigma started. From customized ropes, ladders, ant bridges, and plugging holes, Jim tried everything.

But even after some 50-60 trials, all he got was disappointment and failure.

Yet Jim was a tough ant, he couldn’t give up so easily. His experiments continued.

One day, as he was in the middle of his new trial, a cloth touched his head. Wondering what it was, he started climbing it. He climbed, climbed, and climbed until he reached a… guess what? A human neck!! Jim was on a freaking human! He rushed upwards, panting and scared and suddenly a finger came and crushed his legs. 

Jim thought this was where it all ended. His entire body froze like an ice cube and he was ready to let his soul leave his body. 

But just then the human looked at what was crawling on her neck and found a half-crushed ant in between her fingers. “Poor ant”, the human thought to herself. Hoping for its recovery the human placed Jim where she could see a huge colony of ants.. And that was on the top of the stigma!!!

Even though Jim was half-alive he felt a great sense of achievement within him to have made it to the stigma. The human hand again approached Jim and this time the human placed Jim on the last anther thinking that it would be more convenient for him to make his way down from there.

Jim had lost all his senses and didn’t understand what was happening.

In just a few seconds, another ant from the colony came and dragged him down into their house. In the next 48 hours, Jim was all strong and walking. The fellow ants of the colony had licked his wounds and cured his injuries. 

Fun Fact: Ants lick their fellow injured mates to heal them. Their saliva has the power to heal any wound. It is also used in the production of antibiotics for human beings.

Jim could never forget those few seconds that he spent on the stigma ever in his life.

By just working tirelessly towards his goal Jim was able to achieve what he dreamed of!